Iranian Nobel laureate hospitalised twice after ‘violent arrest’, say family

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DUBAI, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi was taken to the hospital emergency room twice after suffering blows from security forces who arrested her on December 12, her family told the Narges Foundation on Monday.

The human rights activist won the award whilst in prison in 2023, following her three-decade campaign for women’s rights and the abolition of the death penalty in Iran.

She was re-arrested on Friday – having been released late last year – after denouncing the suspicious death of lawyer Khosrow Alikordi.

Mashhad prosecutor Hasan Hematifar had told reporters on Saturday that Mohammadi and Alikordi’s brother had made provocative remarks at the lawyer’s memorial ceremony in the northeastern city of Mashhad and encouraged those present “to chant norm‑breaking slogans” and “disturb the peace”.

The family-run Narges Foundation said Mohammadi had made a call to her family late on Sunday.

“Narges Mohammadi said in the call that the intensity of the blows was so heavy, forceful, and repeated that she was taken to the hospital emergency room twice… Her physical condition at the time of the call was not good, and she appeared unwell,” the foundation said in a post on X.

Mohammadi had been released in December last year from Tehran’s Evin prison after the suspension of her jail term to undergo medical treatment.

She told her family she was accused of “cooperating with the Israeli government” and received death threats from security forces, prompting her to request her legal team to file a formal complaint against the detaining security body and the violent manner of her arrest.

There was no immediate comment from the Iranian authorities.

(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson)